What's in a Name?
by kirstieroo
Summary: How the Alenko children got their names.


Thanks once again to impsy for her help on this 3

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><p>Their first child had been the easiest to name. From the moment they knew he would be a boy, there had been no doubt in November Shepard's mind that he would be named David. There had been some discussion over his middle name, as there were so many people they wanted to honour, so many lost to them in recent years. They'd considered giving him multiple names, just to fit them all in.<p>

And so the weeks leading up to his birth had been filled with her wandering around, muttering combinations to herself and writing them down (on datapads, scraps of paper, a napkin), trying to decide which she liked best. In fact, she'd been sat up in bed, frowning at a datapad 'short' list - David Ashley, David William, David Mordin, David Solus, David Thane, David Krios, and so on and so forth - when she'd felt the first signs of his impending arrival.

Her mother had warned her not to settle on any one name until he was born, claiming that he might not look like a David, but she'd paid no mind, reasoning that the woman who named her daughter after a month was not the most reliable source on sensible baby naming. She'd been right not to worry, for from the moment the midwife placed him into her arms and he met her gaze, they'd been no doubt to her that this was little David Alenko.

"He has your eyes," Kaidan had murmured, awestruck, as he looked down at the infant in her arms.

She shook her head, "Most babies have blue eyes to begin with, it doesn't mean anything." David blinked calmly and owlishly up at them both. "He's the spit of you, Kaidan. They'll change."

And he was - born with a full head of dark hair and his father's colouring, not to mention his quiet and calm demeanour (they were always being congratulated on having such a contented child, their mothers insisting they had no clue how lucky they were). One regard in which David didn't take after his father, though, was his piercing, clear blue eyes.

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><p>The struggle to decide on a name for her was only the first way in which their daughter proved unlike her older brother. That advice from her mother, which she had scoffed at a few years earlier, about babies not fitting the names you had chosen? This time, it rang true.<p>

And so it was that the noisy, fussy baby girl, with hardly any hair (just a few auburn wisps, really), went nearly two weeks without a name.

She had _meant_ to be called Ashley. Like David before her, it had seemed the obvious choice. They'd barely needed to discuss it, seeming to have an unspoken understanding that of course they'd name her for Ash.

But it just didn't fit. She was only a day and half old when they'd looked at each other, both feeling it but neither wanting to say, and concurred that Ashley would have to be her middle name. The problem was that they had nothing else to call her.

"We could name her after Mordin instead," Shepard suggested a few days later, sorting through and folding all the tiny pink outfits that were already starting to arrive from family, friends and assorted well-wishers.

"No, one of Wrex's daughters is Mordin. It would get confusing," Kaidan responded, over the squalls of his own daughter (unlike David, she hated baths, it seemed).

"I'm pretty sure people will be able to tell the baby krogan from the baby human, Kaidan," she retorted, frowning at a pair of frilly pink dungarees she hoped the child would grow out of sooner rather than later. "Well, we could adapt it? Name her something similar. Like Morgan. Morgan's a sweet name."

"Morgan's a boys name." Kaidan removed the baby from the little plastic bath and wrapped her up. For all that she hated being in the bath, she didn't much seem to like being out of it either.

"It's a unisex name,"

"I still don't like it,"

"Well, let's hear your bright ideas then,"

"Shark!"

They both turned to look at David, knelt on the floor amidst a sea of crayons and paper.

"What's that, champ?"

"Baby called Shark!" David proclaimed proudly. Sharks, of course, had been his favourite animal ever since that afternoon Uncle Grunt took him to the aquarium last month. He'd come back with a stuffed shark and stories about lots of teeth and eating things.

"We're not calling the baby 'Shark'," Kaidan chuckled, dressing her in one of the less hideously patterned sleepsuits his mother had sent.

"Why?" If sharks were his favourite animal, 'why' was David's favourite question.

"Because a shark is an animal, not a person's name," Shepard replied, settling onto the sofa and letting Kaidan hand the baby to her for a feed.

"November's a month, not a name, yet you're called it anyway," her husband helpfully pointed out. She glared.

They weren't any closer to deciding on a name when Garrus arrived a week later, bearing news and good wishes from Palaven. He was sat at the kitchen table, David atop his knee, patiently exclaiming at the toddler showed him his latest shark paintings and books ("Look, Uncle Garrus! Shark!"), while Shepard told him of their struggle to find a name that suited.

"I suggested Solus," she was saying, "but Kaidan doesn't like it as a given name. I wanted to name her for Mordin, or Ash, or both."

"How about Solana," he'd suggested, looking up from "Shark in the Dark" (David's favourite book)

"Your sister's name?"

"Yes. It's a traditional turian name. One of the classics," He let David wriggle off from his lap and run off towards the pile of toys in the corner. "It has the 'sol' for Solus, and also for your sun," he pointed out.

"Solana," she mused, glancing towards the baby girl who was sleeping peacefully (for once) in the moses basket.

And so it was that Solana Ashley Alenko was named by Garrus Vakarian.

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><p>After all the deliberating about what to name Sol, Shepard thought, they might have learnt their lesson. Had a list of names prepared, ready to choose whichever fit her best. Yet here they were, three weeks away from her due date, and they had yet to put anything on the list beyond their parents names.<p>

The problem came from having used all their inspiration up on the first two. They'd named David for Anderson and Thane, and Sol for Mordin and Ashley. That only really left Legion, and they both agreed that there wasn't anyway they could make that work as a name.

The problem with naming the baby after their parents, Shepard mused, as she shifted about unable to find a comfortable position to sleep, was the risk of offending someone. What if they had a boy, and named him Jonathan Daniel, and Kaidan's dad got offended that his was chosen as the middle name, not the first? Or Megumi Hannah - would her mother be hurt, feel like Meg was favoured over her?

She sighed, reaching over for the (now very well worn) baby name list Liara had sent ("names from every Council race and their meanings - there's sure to be _something_ you'll both like, Shepard."). Kaidan, ever the light sleeper, rolled over and curled his arm around her sleepily.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, breath tickling the back of her neck.

"Nope, and neither can your child." As if aware it was being spoke about, the baby aimed a sharp kick at where Kaidan's hand was caressing her bump.

"Any more ideas?"

"Maybe something Japanese? To match your name, or for your mother's side?"

To Kaidan's credit, he didn't suggest that she chose her favourite month of the year to match her name. Instead, he replied "If we're going to honour my ethnic heritage, we're going to need a lot of names. I'm a bit of most things," he pointed out.

"How about Maiko?"

"Maiko Alenko? You don't think that's a bit too sing-song?"

"Fine," she tossed the datapad back to the bedside table. "You name it."

Five days later, she awoke from an exhausted sleep following a difficult birth, to see Kaidan sat in the reclining chair beside her hospital bed, his attention rapt on their newborn daughter asleep on his chest.

"Hey," she called, dragging his attention to her.

"Hey, sleeping beauty," he smiled.

Shepard laughed, "I believe sleeping beauty's the one in your arms right now,"

"She gets that from you."

Shepard rolled her eyes. "The other two still with your parents?"

He nodded. "I was thinking, while you were sleeping-"

"Uh oh," she smiled tiredly.

"Eden," was all he said. At her questioning look, he continued, "You said I should name her. I think she should be called Eden."

"Ok. Bit random."

"Not really," he stood from the recliner and came over to her bed. She shifted over, making room for him on the narrow mattress. "See, I was thinking about the beacon. When I look back, I'm pretty sure that's when I knew I was falling for you. I'd uh... admired you... on the Normandy, before that,"

She quirked an eyebrow. Eight years of marriage and he still tripped over complimenting her sometimes.

"But on Eden Prime, that's the first time I saw you being Shepard. When I saw your determination, your stubbornness, when you pushed me out of the way of the beacon, that was the first time I saw how you don't hesitate to put everyone else first, your selflessness..."

He met her eyes, "When I saw you, unconscious in front of that beacon, that's when I realised I had no choice in the matter. I was going to fall in love with you, whether you wanted me or not."

"I always wanted you," she leant forward and caught him in a gentle kiss. "Sap."

He chuckled. "Get some more rest, David and Sol will be here soon."


End file.
